Heavenly Twins
Participating Countries: Xemil Empire, Provinces of Chila, and Merithan City-States Basic Holy Days: What When Day's Judgement Midsummer Night's Reckoning Midwinter Country-Specific Holy Days: What When Where Night's Feasting Fall Equinox Chila Day's Gifting Spring Equinox Chila Centers of Worship: Center Where Shrine of the Holy Cave The northeast side of the Southern Gap in Xemil Temple of the Twins Xemil, the southern shore of the Twilight River between the Sea of Heavens and the Lake of the Twins Temple of the Heavens Chila, the shore of the Sea of Winds due east of Arthelis' Point Deities: Day Night Preferred Mantles: Creation, Death, Destruction, Energy, Ethereal, Knowledge, Life, Light and Darkness, Repose, Shadow General Description The religion of the Heavenly Twins is the oldest on Darelth. Some sculptures in the Shrine of the Holy Cave are older than man's recorded history; even the Temple of the Twins was built before the first Great Neck Empire. Given this, it should be no suprise that the religion is both very stable and very tied to nature's cycles. Men and women are given roughly equal status in the religion, though gender separation is rigidly enforced. The influence of the mystery cults is widespread, especially since they are open to non-priests as well. The religion is very intolerant of in-between things; everything must be sorted into two categories, and claimed by one of the two deities. They also believe that the Twins are omniscient, seeing and controlling everything, as well as struggling for ultimate ascendency. In day-to-day life, worshippers of the Twins interject references to the to deities throughout their speech, usually through allusions to one of the deity's aspects as the Twins have no given names. A peasant might wish a traveller "Bowman's speed and Gift-giver's blessings", or an ill person the Swordsman's Hand upon him. In the more educated classes, the ability to form and use highly complex allusions is a marker of social distinction. Detailed Deities Day is the deity of the Day, the Sun, Light, and all that is Good. Day causes the crops to grow, and life to exist. Though technically hemaphroditic, Day is usually depicted as a handsome adult male surrounded by sunlight, wearing a kilt, bracers, and a crown, sitting on a throne, holding a flowering staff or scepter in one hand and a balance in the other; a bow and arrows lay propped against the throne. Day's female form is generally associated with agriculture and fertility; she is depicted as a beautiful adult female seated on the same throne, wearing a haltertop and a longer skirt as well as bracelets and a crown. Resting on the floor between her knees, with its point just below her right breast, is an overflowing cornucopia, from which spills fruits, flowers, vegetables, grain, and animals. Day has two mystery cults, one male and one female. The two cults conduct a joint ritual on Midsummer Day. Night is the deity of the Night, the Moon, Death, and all that is Foul and Evil. Night measures people's life, collects them when their time has been reckoned, and condemns some to the foul state of undeath, denying them their place in the sky. Like Day, Night is hermaphroditic, with both male and female forms. Unlike Day, neither is depicted more than the other. The male form is depicted in full armor, his face hidden in the shadows of his helmet, sitting on a blood-red throne draped with furs, a naked sword laid flat across his lap, a scythe rising above his head from behind the throne. Night's female form sits on an ornate black throne embedded with moonstones and draped with silks; she holds a bowl filled with a dark liquid and bends her vieled face over it, behind her rises the moon and the stars. Again, like Day, Night has two mystery cults that conduct joint rituals on Midwinter's Night. There are persistent rumors of another mystery cult that worships both Night and Day, but little is known of this Cult of the Shadow. The Shadow Cult is regarded as heretical by the mainstream priests of Night and Day, who claim that the Cult denies the divinity of the Twins and traffics with the Undead. Category: SettingCategory: Religions